Sign letters in script



March 19, 1963 c. OWNBEY 3,081,569

' SIGN LETTERS IN SCRIPT Filed Jan. 23, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet l L YD C-CWNBEY INVENTOR.

m g Mam/4W MATTORNEY S United States Patent 3,081,569 SIGN LETTERS INSCRIPT Lloyd C. GWnhe I313 Collingwood Place, Los Angeles 46, Calif.Filed Jan. 23, 19b2, Ser. No. 163,059 7 Claims. (Cl. 49-449) Theinvention relates to changeable signs wherein sepa rate letters are sodesigned and constructed that they can be placed upon supporting railsin any desired order of arrangement so as to spell out words. For themost part changeable sign letters such as those here under considerationare constructed of black or colored translucent material, usually somesynthetic plastic resin, and mounted upon uniformly spaced supportingrails which carry the letters in a position forward of, and in someinstances, spaced slightly from a bright and ofttimes lightedbackground.

Sign letters of this general nature have heretofore been usuallyconstructed of block letters or, in any event, letters which can bemounted spaced from each and every other letter of the sign, the spacingbeing adjustable :at will and, moreover, the character of letters beingsuch that they have a printed effect, not needing to be joined one withanother.

Signs of this kind have had some unwanted defects in that since eachlettering job is a hand spacing proposition, the spacing may not beuniform or perhaps may be too crowded or too widely separated to producea desired attractive effect when left to the discretion of unskilledpersons. Also, because of the printed or block-like character of theletters, the finished effect of all signs has a de gree of monotony, allsigns looking essentially alike, the inherent mechanics being such as toprohibit much variation in appearance.

It is therefore among the objects of the invention to provide new andimproved sign characters in script and constructed so that thecharacters can be joined one to another, spelling out words and otherexpressions, giving the appearance of being written in script.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved bank ofscript-type individual sign letters constructed in such fashion thatwhen mounted upon support ing rails and moved together into contact witheach other, the areas of contact will be in precise alignment and willestablish a means of precisely spacing the letters one from anotherwithout prospect of misalignment.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a new and improvedbank of script-type individual sign letters having junction areas at theend of the final stroke of each letter so constructed and oriented as toengage junction areas on the initialside of the next adjacent letterwith portions of the letter in each instance immediately adjacent thejunction area of such slope and direction that the adjacent portionsmatch when letters are brought together, thereby to minimize the effectof the junction and to produce a smooth-flowing script appearance whenwords are constructed of the individual letters.

Still further among the objects of the invention is to provide a bank ofscrip characters compacted vertically and balanced laterally so thatwhen prearranged and slid together on a supporting rail to spell outwords and expressions, the letters on all lines will fall into thewell-spaced automatically neat appearing arrangement, the proportioningbeing such that virtually all types of letters,

whether having strokes extending below a normal line or above a normalline, will effectively clear corresponding letters on lines immediatelyabove and below whereby to facilitate shifting of groups of lettershorizontally without due need for removing letters from the supportingrails in order to facilitate to the greatest degree possible applicationof letters to a sign with substantially a minimum of time and effort.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in theconstruction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of thedevice, whereby the objects con templated are attained, as hereinafterset forth, pointed out in the appended claims and illustrated in theaccompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a detailed presentation of the face portion of two typicalcharacters, one of which has strokes both above and below a normalwriting line and the other of which has strokes confined to a normalwriting line.

FIGURE la is a fragmentary end elevational view on the line 1a1a ofFIGURE 1.

FIGURE 1b is a cross-section through a narrow stroke of one of theletters, namely, on the line lbib of FIG- URE 1.

FIGURE 10 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a modified form ofjunction between adjacent letters.

FIGURE 2 is a bank of characters showing the design of all twenty-sixletters of the alphabet in front elevation.

FIGURE 2a is a fragmentary side elevational view taken on the line 2a2aof FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 3 is a front elevational view of a typical sign structure showingindividual letters initially applied to the ign on two differentvertically spaced lines and with letters in indiscriminate positionsprior to being joined together.

FIGURE 4 is a front elevational view of four letters in position uponsupporting rails wherein the letters of one of the words of FIGURE 3have been moved together to form a word giving the appearance ofcontinuous script.

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary end elevational View of a letter showing oneof the supporting rails in cross-section and a portion of the sign boardarea behind the rail.

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary, cross-sectional view through a portion of oneof the letters revealing a clip by means of which the letter may beattached to a rail.

In an embodiment of the invention chosen for the purpose ofillustration, there is shown a bank of lower case script letters, all ofwhich are shown in FIGURE 2. They consist in this instance of all of thetwenty-six letters of the alphabet, each of which is somewhat speciallyand individually designed so as to meet the concept of the invention.

To illustrate the structural essentials needed of each letter in turn,the letter J and the letter a have been selected, as shown in FIGURE 1.The letter is one having its upper portion lying above a common lineoccupied by the mid-portions of all of the letters and also has aportion lying below that line. In contrast the letter a has all portionsof it lying within such common line.

Having reference to the letter 1, there is a body portion 19 wherein thestroke of the letter is relatively wide, the body portion being struckat an angle about 36 degrees from vertical, although the precise angleis not critical.

A mid-point or mid-area ii in this particular example lies substantiallymid-way between upper and lower ends of the letter and represents apoint roughly at the middle or significant central area of the letter.The mid-area li lies substantially on the center line of the common lineoccupied by all of the letters when they are arranged in their normalfashion. The reference character 12 has been applied to a center linepassing through the midarea ll and which is substantially at the centerline of the path of all the letters referred to.

At the left side of the body It} there is a junction area 13 whichextends in a vertical direction. The junction area is a vertical facehaving a lower edge 14 at a horizontal line of junction with the bodyIii. A fillet surface 15 slopes at an angle of substantially 45 degreesin the oneness chosen embodiment and is joined at its lower end to anupper edge 16 of the junction area. The other end of the fillet surface,namely, the horizontally extending edge 17, is at the junction of thefillet surface with the upper portion of the body iii.

A body ill of the letter a, as shown in FIGURE 1, has the same junctionarea 13 in the same relative position, namely, on the center line 32,and is joined to the body It? in a similar fashion along the lower edge14. Moreover, the same fillet 15 connected to the edge 16 joins the bodylit at an edge 17. The same structure is repeated on all those letterswhich at the left-hand side have either a rounded body portion or anoblique straight stroke.

There are, however, some letters which begin with an upward stroke as,for example, the letters j, m, n, r, s, v, y and z. In these cases ajunction area in of the same size as the junction area 13 is verticallydisposed at the beginning of the stroke. In this instance a lower edge21 of the junction area joins a portion 22 of a body 23. An upper edge24 adjoins what for uniformity in terminology is described as a filletarea 25. The fillet area for a moderate distance obliquely upwardly andtoward the right from the edge 24 has a slope of substantially 45degrees, this being the same slope as the fillet area 15 heretoforedescribed. The fillet area in this instance, however, is tangent to theexterior upper curve of the body of the letter so that the fillet areablends gradually into the body of the letter. A similar relationshipexists in the case of the letters m, n, y and z. In the case of theletters 1' and s, however, the transition is slightly different but inessence the structure is the same in that the fillet area immediatelyabove and to the right of the junction area lies at an angle of about 45degrees so as to be consistent in the case of all of the letters orcharacters as the case may be.

Although the fillet area is here suggested as having an angle of 45degrees, what is important is to have the fillet area at substantiallythe same angle as the top side of the final or terminal stroke of allletters which may be used at a location to the left of the letter inquestion.

On the right side of virtually all of the letters there is in effect aterminal stroke comprising a portion 28 of the body in each instance. Atthe right-most end of this body portion there is another junction area3% which is vertically disposed and which is of the same height andbreadth as the junction area 13 and the junction area 26. A lower edge21 of the junction area joins the lower wall of the portion 28 of thebody and at least for a limited distance this portion slopes obliquelydownwardly toward the left at an angle of substantially 45 degrees. Anupper edge 32 is at the line of connection between the junction area asand a fillet surface 33. The fillet surface is also at an angle of about45 degrees or a limited distance below the upper edge 32 and inconsequence for that limited distance is parallel to the opposite sideof the body portion Clearly from an examination of all of the lettersinvolved, this 45 degree parallel relationship is maintained for only alimited distance which varies considerably with the type of the finalstroke. For example, in the case of the letter 0, it will be very short,whereas, in the case or" the letter 0 it will be of relatively maximumlength. In other letters the length of this final stroke will varybetween maximum and minimum limits.

It is further suggested that the center of the junction area 7 3b lieson the center line 12 as does the center of the junction areas 13 and2t).

As has been previously suggested, the characters here comprising lettersare customarily constructed of some translucent synthetic plasticmaterial in most instances which may be colored suitably to make anattractive sign. Clips 35 of substantially conventional construction arelocated at appropriate points such as the points 36, 37, 38 and 3% forthe letter p, as suggested in FIGURES 3 and 4. The clips are adapted toengage one or another of the supporting rails 40 whereby the letter ineach instance may be hun on the rails in one line or another, as

shown in FIGURE 3. The rails are ordinarily attached by appropriatemeans to a sign face 41 which may, if desired, be illuminated frombehind by means not shown, thereby to light up the character and letterswhen they are attached. Although only two rails 46 are shown, three ormore rails may be used for letters of relatively larger size.

When letters are to be attached to the rails to spell out some word orexpression, the practice as indicated in FIGURE 3 is preferably to hangrespective letters indiscriminately in positions of proper order uponupper and lower rails 4s by use of the clips 35. The upper line ofFIGURE 3 shows letters spelling the word pact. After the successiveletters are hung in the order desired, they are merely moved togetherhorizontally until the junction areas of adjacent letters are moved intoface to face contact as shown in FIGURE 4.

Inasmuch as all of the junction areas lie on the same longitudinalcenter line 12 they match precisely, final strokes of the lettersblended into left-hand sides of each succeeding letter so that there isa continuity of the stroke during the transition from letter to letter.This effect is achieved by providing the fillets heretofore describedhaving at least initially the same oblique direction as the final strokeof the immediately succeeding letter. Exactly the same relationship ismaintained also where the letter to the right may begin with a strokeas, for example, tte letter s in its zsrangement in FIGURE 3, where theword hips is spelled out.

It is also appropriate to call attention to the fact that a lowerportion 45 of the letter for example, as well as for letters like theletter p, g and y, to mention some, extends below the path of thescript. In the back of letters herein shown, the lower portions are keptat substantially a uniform distance below the line and to this end thelower portions are compressed upwardly and worked into the body of theletter. If need be, the width of the lower portion may be varied, makingitwider or narrower, in order to provide an overall symmetry and balanceto each individual letter while at the same time preserving itsindividual character so that it can be easily identified. Good practicesuggests that the lower portion be slightly longer than an upper portion46. It is further advantageous to have the distance which the lowerportion extends below the rail when added to the distance which theupper portion extends above the rail equal to the distance between therails minus a'very slight clearance of a fraction of an inch. Whenthis'rel-ationship is adhered to, it will be possible to shift theletters pa ct, for example, as shown in FlGURE 3, horizontally to anyposition without the lower portion 45 of the le er p interfering with anupper portion 46 of the letter h.

Good practice also suggests that for letters like the letters a and c,for example, the upper edge of the letter in each instance be at aposition above the upper rail 40 and that the lower portion of theletter in each instance be slightly below the lower rail 40.

Although the sundry letters are designed primarily in the interest ofgood balanced appearance when placed together to form words, phrases andsentences, it will be appreciated that when the overall central area ofeach letter in turn is taken into consideration the mid-point 11 in eachinstance will be a point approximately at the middle of the integratedarea. Moreover, in designing the letters the initial strokes and finalstrokes should be positioned in such a relationship that the junctionareas on opposite sides place the letters at such distance from everyother letter so that spaces between the letters will be approximatelythe same in all instances. This approximation, however, will be made upin a different fashion in many instances because of the fact that someletters end in a long final stroke like the letters i and t and otherletters end in a rounded portion like the letters 0 and 11.

By properly designing the letters, giving attention to the length of thefinal stroke in each instance, spacing will be assured so that whenletters in any relationship are placed side by side and pushed togetheruntil the junction areas are in contact, the resulting word will be ingood balance automatically.

Further still, by having the junction areas vertical and on the samehorizontal center line when letters are pushed together from openposition, as shown in FIGURE 3, to closed position, as shown in FIGURE4, should the force pushing them together be excessive, the letters willmerely be forced into proper position by reason of the fact that thepressure is in a horizontal direction against junction areas which arevertical and hence there will be no tendency to cam out of position,thereby to tilt some of the letters out of proper alignment or perhapseven to throw them ofi their positions on the rails. This feature makesis possible to quickly apply the letters in proper sequence in virtuallyany spread-out relationship and then with equal facility shift themtogether into contact with proper spacing with a minimum expenditure oftime and also by making use of persons Who may have no familiarity withthe technique of proper spacing and arrangement.

In a modified form of the invention as shown in FIG- URE lc junctionareas 48 and 49 respectively on the preceding character or letter 50 andthe succeeding letter or character 51 have a direction other thanvertical. In the example they are complementary angular configurationswhich match and nest one within the other when adjacent letters arepushed together. When interlocked they prevent the letters from becomingmisaligned. Other matching areas may also be used.

To further assist in an understanding of the practical aspects of theinvention, attention is called to the fact that signs of this generalcharacter have largely standardized on the spacing on the rails so thatthe rails are ordinarily spaced seven inches apart throughout the faceof a sign. Letters such as lower case letters of the type here involvedwhen they are to be used with rails having seven inch spacing are bestwhen constructed so that the lower portion 45 is slightly less than fourinches below the lower rail and the upper portion 46 is slightly lessthan three inches above the upper rail. For those letters such as theletters a and c or, for example, i and s the letter is of such size thatthe upper portion appears best when it extends about one inch above theupper rail and the lower portion extends about one inch below the lowerrail.

While the invention has herein been shown and described in what isconceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it isrecognized that departures may be made therefrom within the scope of theinvention, which is not to be limited to the details disclosed hereinbut is to be accorded the full scope of the claims so as to embrace anyand all equivalent devices.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new in support ofLetters Patent is:

1. An individual sign character for mounting in a changeable sign, saidcharacter comprising a body, junction areas respectively at the leftside and at the right side of the body in substantial horizontalalignment, the junction area at the left side having a face joined atits lower edge to the left side of the letter, and a fillet surfacesloping upwardly at a selected angle and joining the junction area atits upper edge to the adjacent left side of the letter, the junctionarea at the right side having a face of height equal to the height ofthe first identified face and joined at its lower edge to the right sideof the letter, and a fillet surface sloping downwardly and toward theleft at about the same angle as the first iden tified fillet surfacejoining the last identified junction area at its upper edge to theadjacent right side of the letter.

2. An individual script alphabet letter for mounting in a changeablesign, said letter comprising a body having a right and left side and ascript stroke on at least one of said sides, junction areas respectivelyat the left side and at the right side of the body in substantialalignment with each other, the junction area at one side having anupright face joined at its lower edge to the corresponding side of theletter and a fillet surface sloping upwardly at a selected angle fromthe vertical and joining the upright face at its upper edge to theadjacent side of the letter, the other of said junction areas being atthe end of the script stroke and having an upright face of height equalto the height of the first identified upright face and joined at'itslower edge to the corresponding side of the letter, and a surface of thestroke sloping downwardly and toward the body at about the same angle asthe fillet and joining the last identified upright face at its upperedge to the adjacent side of the letter.

3. An individual script alphabet letter for mounting in a changeablesign, said letter comprising a body of molded material in the shape of aline which is a trace of the letter from an initial to a final stroke,attachment means at the rear of the letter adapted to mount the letteron the sign, junction areas respectively at the left side and at theright side of the body in substantial alignment with a horizontalmid-line of said central area, the junction area at the left side havinga vertical face joined at its lower edge to the left side of the letterand a fillet surface sloping upwardly at a selected angle from thevertical joining the vertical face at its upper edge to the adjacentleft side of the letter, the junction area at the right side having avertical face of height equal to the height of the first identifiedvertical face and joined at its lower edge to the right side of theletter, and a fillet surface sloping downwardly and toward the left atabout the same angle as the first identified fillet and joining thevertical face on the right side at its upper edge to the adjacent rightside of the letter.

4. An individual script alphabet letter for mounting in a changeablesign having horizontal supporting rails at a vertically spaced interval,said letter comprising a body 'of molded material in the shape of a linewhich is a trace of the letter from an initial to a final stroke,attachment means at the rear of the letter adapted to mount the letteron said rails with the central area of the letter outline substantiallymidway between the rails, junction areas respectively at the left sideand at the right side of the body in substantial alignment with ahorizontal midline through said central area, the junction area at theleft side having a vertical face joined at its lower edge to the leftside of the letter, and a fillet surface sloping upwardly at a selectedangle from the vertical and joining the junction area at its upper edgeto the adjacent left side of the letter, the junction area at the rightside having a vertical face of height equal to the height of the firstidentified vertical face and joined at its lower edge to the right sideof the letter, and a fillet surface sloping downwardly and toward theleft at about the same angle as the first identified fillet joining thelast identified junction area at its upper edge to the adjacent rightside of the letter.

5. A set of individual script characters for mounting in a changeablesign in selected sequence, said characters comprising some with initialand final stroke portions respectively on left and right sidesintermediate the top and bottom and others with initial side wallportions on the left intermediate the top and bottom, said characterscomprising script lines, substantially flat junction areas at ends ofthe stroke portions and at the initial side wall portions, said junctionareas being all at the same level and extending substantiallyvertically, each junction area at the left having an edge joined to theadjacent portion of the letter and a fillet surface sloping upwardly andtoward the right at a selected angle from the vertical into engagementwith the adjacent portion of the letter, each junction area at the righthaving an edge joined to the adjacent portion of the letter and a filletsurface sloping downwardly and toward the left at the same angle as saidfirst identified fillet portion into engagement with the adjacentportion of the letter, said letters when mounted side by side havingsaid junction areas of adarr-areas 7 jacent letters in face to faceengagement whereby to present a continuous script effect.

6. A set of individual script alphabetical letters for mounting in achangeable sign to spell out words wherein said sign has a plurality ofvertically spaced horizontal rails, said letters comprising some withinitial and final stroke portions respectively on left and right sidesintermediate the top and bottom and others with initial side wallportions on the left intermediate the top and bottom, said letterscomprising script tracing lines, substantially fiat junction areas atends of the stroke portions and at the initial side wall portions, saidjunction areas being all at the same level and extending substantiallyupright, each junction area at the left having a lower edge joined tothe adjacent portion of the letter and a fillet surface sloping upwardlyand toward the right at a selected angle from the vertical intoengagement with the adjacent portion of the letter, each junction areaat the right having a lower edge joined to the adjacent portion of theletter and a fillet surface sloping downwardly and toward the left atabout the same angle from the vertical as said first identified filletinto engagement with the adjacent portion of the letter, said letterswhen attached to said rails having said junction areas of adjacentletters in face to face engagement whereby to present a continuousscript eitect.

7. A set of individual script alphabetical letters for mounting in achangeable sign to spell out words wherein said sign has a plurality ofvertically spaced horizontal rails for a plurality of lines of words,said letters comprising some with initial and final stroke portionsrespectively on left and right sides intermediate the top and bottom andothers with initial side Wall portions on the left intermediate the topand bottom, said letters comprising script tracing lines of varyingwidth and height with upper and lower sections compressed centrallyforrning a relatively compact letter area, substantially flat junctionareas at ends of the stroke portions and at the initial side wallportions, said junction areas being all at the same level and extendingsubstantially vertically, each junction area at the left having a loweredge joined to the adjacent portion of the letter and a fillet surfaceslopirn upwardly and toward the right at a selected angle from thevertical into engagement with the adjacent portion of the letter, eachjunction area at the right having a lower edge joined to the adjacentportion of the letter and a fillet surface sloping downwardly and towardthe left at about the same angle from the vertical as said firstidentified fillet into engagement with the adjacent portion of theletter, said letters when attached to said rails having said junctionareas of adjacent letters in face to face engagement whereby to presenta continuous script effect, and lower and upper parts of letters on oneline being spaced respectively from upper and lower parts of letters onadjacent parallel lines whereby to permit lines of words to be shiftedon the rails horizontally with respect to each other.

References Qited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS274,993 Thorp Apr. 3, 1883 947,377 De Puy Jan. 25, 19 .10

FOREIGN PATENTS 4,508 Great Britain Feb. 22, 1902

1. AN INDIVIDUAL SIGN CHARACTER FOR MOUNTING IN A CHANGEABLE SIGN, SAIDCHARACTER COMPRISING A BODY, JUNCTION AREAS RESPECTIVELY AT THE LEFTSIDE AND AT THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BODY IN SUBSTANTIAL HORIZONTALALIGNMENT, THE JUNCTION AREA AT THE LEFT SIDE HAVING A FACE JOINED ATITS LOWER EDGE TO THE LEFT SIDE OF THE LETTER, AND A FILLET SURFACESLOPING UPWARDLY AT A SELECTED ANGLE AND JOINING THE JUNCTION AREA ATITS UPPER EDGE TO THE ADJACENT LEFT SIDE OF THE LETTER, THE JUNCTIONAREA AT THE RIGHT SIDE HAVING A FACE OF HEIGHT EQUAL TO THE HEIGHT OFTHE FIRST IDENTIFIED FACE AND JOINED AT ITS LOWER EDGE TO THE RIGHT SIDEOF THE LETTER, AND A FILLET SURFACE SLOPING DOWNWARDLY AND TOWARD THELEFT AT ABOUT THE SAME ANGLE AS THE FIRST IDENTIFIED FILLET SURFACEJOINING THE LAST IDENTIFIED JUNCTION AREA AT ITS UPPER EDGE TO THEADJACENT RIGHT SIDE OF THE LETTER.